SAN GENNARO NEVER SAYS NO

A desultory serenade heard far off, this rambling eulogy to the city of Naples has a sweet, nostalgic tone that deepens and broadens the heavy sentimental strain. Inspired by a tender love for the old city, the author captures the soul of the city- old, cynical, melancholy, make-believe, involved in an eternal masquerade. Actually the book is made up of impressions of the sea, of fishermen, tailors, bakers, singers, gangsters, wives and lovers -- faithful and unfaithful- of and wine, wigs and clothes, railways, black markets, flowers and hospitals, and stories of death and love. The prose may seem a bit over-sweet in English, but there is a vitality and sensibility which makes it very special reading for those who enjoy rather rarefied literary reveries.